Ascendancy of the Sith Chapter 11: Through the Gates of Hell, a star wars: the clone wars fanfic

A/N: Given the Title, you might be able to tell what's about to happen. Or maybe that's what I want you to think? Also, I will update when I update. I'll try to do it frequently but be patient if it isn't every day, I do have a job, and a family, and that might put a bit of a delay on the story chapters coming out. Please favorite and review, also, I own no characters except my own creations, and even then, I don't own the rights to their species. That's all on the Mouse Lord on his Mouse Throne.

Sheev Palpatine sat at his makeshift throne, swallowed by his black and red Sith robes. He may have had to deal with a twenty-year setback, but at long last he was ready to make his move, he would take the galaxy as his own personal empire. No stupid Togruta farmgirl would stop him this time, oh no. The moves for a quiet takeover were scrapped long ago after that little incident. He scowled at the memory. His legions of hooded followers chanted in a half-stadium, waiting on their god-king to speak.

Palpatine.

While his son had managed to escape the cult it was no matter, his followers had followed to insolent boy and his wife to Jakku and slaughtered them. No word on the child though. What was her name again? Bah, it didn't matter. Standing to his feet, he addressed his fanatics "Long have I waited for this day."

Palpatine.

"Today, the treasonous Jedi will end!" Sheev snarled, his yellowed teeth and eyes now clearly visible as there was no longer any point to maintaining his friendlier appearance.

Palpatine.

Gràinne ordered the attack, and the Sith charged from the Falcon into the Hangar, immediately slicing into the Temple Guards. In their exhausted state, the outnumbered Guards were hardly a match for the Sith strike force. As the Empress dueled with one, another attempted to jump on her from behind only to be Force Pushed through the wall as she decapitated his friend. Lending aid to Darth Vengeance, she blasted his opponent with lightning. One Temple "Guard," the one who had been banging on the Falcon, she assumed simply collapsed at the sight of them. She wasn't above taking prisoners, which the five survivors clearly hoped as they surrendered.

"Darth Vengeance, you and Lady Carnage are to keep watch over the prisoners in the Falcon."

"Yes, Empress," they replied in unison, confiscating the Guards' lightsabers and marching them into the freighter. The five conscious prisoners were stuffed into a cupboard beneath the floor tile while the unconscious guard was put into the infirmary.

Adi Gallia massaged her temples in her darkened room. She had been having awful migraine attacks for the past two weeks, and the new political jobs she had been given by the rest of the Council were not helping. She had been against the Reformists, and still was, but Windu was making the Jedi Council into an echo chamber and the order into his own personal plaything. She wondered if the inherent Darkness of Form VII, Vapaad, had finally gotten to him. She took another long draught of her water, emptying the glass. Getting up and refilling it, she sat back at her mat and opened the datapad, turning the light settings as low as they could go. She sensed something amiss, but couldn't quite tell if it was the migraine, the Darkness which periodically enveloped the Temple since Tano's twin had accidentally reactivated an ancient Sith Shrine, or something else.

Serpeness followed the Call of the Dark Side. She felt it stronger than ever before in the halls of the Jedi Temple, her squadron of Sith Lords following right behind her. It had been years since she wandered these halls, lost and afraid. She did not remember the labyrinthine layout of the Temple, only followed the sound of that ancient, never forgotten voice.

"Come to me, Daughter from Heaven. Seize what is yours."

Gràinne stopped for but a moment at that old pet name given to her by her father. Choking back a sob, she internally replied, "I have submitted myself fully to the Darkness. Give me the strength to fulfill my goals."

"Not yet, Child. Not yet." Of course, she had to force Palpatine to teach her the ways of Plagueis. Then and only then could she truly be considered a true master of the Dark Side.

A Jedi entered the hall casually whistling a peppy tune to himself, a padawan if she remembered correctly, they were the ones with the hair braids, scrolling through a holo-book. Looking up the redheaded teenager saw a group of fifty Sith Lords and Ladies, including the Dark Empress herself, sabers ignited and walking with a determination that only meant death. He stopped whistling and stood frozen as the Sith approached him. He was not a coward by any stretch of the definition… but he also wasn't suicidal. Wide-eyed he tried to bargain, "I see nothing."

Jabbing her thumb to the hangar, she pointed the Darksaber's blade at the Padawan's throat, "White freighter, give me your saber and get in it."

"Yes ma'am," the Padawan who now smelled like urine complied without argument, tossing the saber at her feet and shuffling terrified towards the hangar bay. That was when the alarm sounded. Immediately flopping onto the ground, head hidden beneath his hands, the young Jedi shouted at the top of his lungs "IT WASN'T ME!"

The Captain of the Temple Guards, a Twi'lek Jedi Master forty-three years of age, tried hailing the unit she had sent to deal with the trespassing freighter. Sighing in frustration as they refused to pick up, she pulled up the security footage. Upon seeing the red lightsabers, she immediately pulled the alarms and sent the Temple into lockdown. Grabbing the intercom system, she immediately shouted, for the entire Temple to hear, "Sith! Spotted in the hangar bay! Sith Lords! All Jedi Masters and knights respond! Sith attack! Padawans and younglings enact lockdown procedures!"

At the sound of the intercom Serpeness shouted in frustration, "No! Not yet! I still haven't found Palpatine!" Calling PT-77, she ordered, "PT! Start up the Falcon and circle the Temple! Blast the hangar bay!"

PT whirred in confusion.

"Do it!" Gràinne ordered, "We'll meet you at the roof!"

Beeping in compliance, PT closed the call just as what looked to be a hundred Jedi stormed the hangar. Engaging the engines, the Millennium Falcon threw back a few of the closer Jedi and made way to leave before suddenly stopping in mid-air.

Vengeance snarled, then stated "They're using the Force to hold us back. I'll get the canons." Quickly climbing into the turret he activated the Falcon weapon systems and aimed at the Jedi Master clearly holding the ship in place. He blew him to smithereens and released the Falcon from his Force Grip. Firing at the Jedi starfighters throughout the hangar before they could be boarded by their owners to give chase. A few Republic troopers had arrived to provide supporting fire but their blaster rifles did nothing against the ship. "PT! Circle the Temple! We'll provide a distraction for the Empress!"

PT whistled in obedient pleasure.

Adi Gallia and Coleman Kcaj ran towards the hangar bay. Palpatine had attacked the Temple itself?! Such a move hadn't been made by the Sith in over four thousand years!" The massive blast-proof doors opened to show the hangar bay in flames, fuel tanks exploding in the inferno, adding to the heat and destruction. Only one survivor managed to stumble into Gallia's arms, a Pantoran Republic trooper, whose plasteel armor was half-melted. The man was so covered in soot that the Jedi pair could only tell his species from his eyes. Gallia looked at Kcaj and said, "I'll get him to the healers! Find out where the Sith!"

"On it!"

"Force be with you!" Adi called as he ran off.

"With you as well!" Coleman replied.

Picking up the soldier, Gallia rushed towards the lift. He coughed from the amount of smoke he had inhaled and muttered, "They're gone The-the-they're all dead. J-Jedi are supposed to be invulnerable. They're all dead. They're all dead. THEY'RE ALL DEAD!" with his screamed declaration she coughed again.

"Calm down trooper!" Gallia ordered, "We'll get you medical attention as soon as we can! Hang on!"

Palpatine raised his arms, lifting their supply of weapons with the Force; "The Republic, which has betrayed us, shall fall!" he declared to cheering chants.

Palpatine!

It was at this that the explosions rocked the catacomb, even causing Sidious to stumble. He looked at the roof of the Sith Shrine, above which sat the Jedi Temple they would soon raid and snarled. Whatever that was, it wasn't him.

"This is concerning information General," Chancellor Sinube remarked in shock. "An attack on Coruscant? And the terrorists hiding in the Jedi Temple?"

"Yes, Your Excellency. I understand your hesitation, I wouldn't believe it either if I didn't trust the source."

"Who is your source exactly?" Sinube questioned.

"To ensure their own safety they asked me not to reveal that Chancellor, but I would trust them with my life, and have on several occasions."

"In that case I shall inform Senator Windu of his little infestation-"

"All due respect your Excellency, I've already tried that. He insists that Palpatine and his followers are on some abandoned space station in the middle of nowhere."

"He doesn't trust your sources?"

"He doesn't trust anyone."

"Fair enough. But I cannot simply order an investigation into the Jedi Temple itself without permission from the Jedi Order."

"I'm not asking you to do anything outside legal boundaries Chancellor, I'm asking that you try to make Senator Windu see reason, even if you have to strong-arm your way through."

"Hold that thought General," Sinube asked, "I have another call on the emergency line."

"I'll await my orders sir!"

Closing the call, the Jedi in the closet finally tumbled out onto the floor. Ahsoka was the first to stand, "Is this really happening right now?! We came all the way here to keep you and the Republic as a whole safe and nobody is willing to listen?!"

"I'm doing my best, Ahsoka," Rex replied, a sigh of irritation escaping his lips, "But Windu has gone completely insane! Getting him to comply with anything that isn't his idea is almost impossible!"

Anakin chuckled darkly, "I guess some things never change."

Rex held up a finger, signaling for them to be quiet, as his commlink beeped. Answering the call Rex replied, "General Rex speaking."

"General!" Master Gallia replied, "There's an attack at the Jedi Temple! We need every available man and starfighter to reinforce!"

"Of course, sir! Help is on the way now!" closing the call he immediately sent out emergency orders to the entire 501st legion to report to the Jedi Temple to repel an attack while the Jedi pair stared at him in horror. They were too late.

Rex turned to face them, "Sure you can't help? We could use some competent Jedi here."

Anakin and Ahsoka looked at one another, "I guess we don't have much choice," she finally answered.

"Just make sure the Orthodox Jedi don't know we were here," Anakin replied, lifting his hood back up to conceal his face.

The Millennium Falcon fired every weapon it had throughout the Temple, causing as much damage and distortion as it could, eventually even knocking down one of the five spires on the top. At this point Darth Vengeance was simply playing with the Falcon's weapons systems, laying destruction on a defenseless sitting duck when PT beeped in a panic, informing him of incoming gunships. Turning the turret to face the incoming enemies, he fired at the gunships and fighters, who immediately returned fire as PT took evasive maneuvers. Lady Carnage went to the viewport and reached out into the Force, grabbing one of the gunships and slamming it into another, resulting in a devastating explosion which shattered nearby windows on the Temple and rained flaming shrapnel onto the building.

Carnage looked at PT-77, "We're going to need to lose those fighters!"

PT-77 snapped back with a shrill whistle and tightly looped around the remaining spires of the Temple while contacting Gràinne.

Serpeness took a lightsaber to the cuirass, thankfully Baskar was lightsaber-proof, and sliced the jedi knight assaulting her across the chest. They were completely surrounded by dead or wounded Jedi, aside from the one Padawan prisoner they were now dragging around, but she had already lost half of her strike team and they hadn't even made it to the lower levels yet. Baring her teeth under her helm she growled in frustration. Blasting a wall with a storm of lightning, she completely obliterated the drywall, revealing an ancient blast door. This was it. She knew it. Smiling with glee, she reignited the Darksaber and plunged it into the metal. They could take shelter from the Jedi search parties in this forgotten passageway to the Sith Shrine. Her commlink beeped, and PT informed her of the situation.

"Try to lose them then come pick us up in an hour. We might have to retreat for the moment."

PT-77 beeped in conformation.

The Children of the All-Wise Leader grabbed their weapons. Rocket launchers, disruptor rifles, blaster pistols, even stolen lightsabers personally bled by Sidious himself, they would rise to the surface and engage the Jedi in their own home. Without its precious guardians the Republic would stand all but defenseless against their god-king, with or without an army. As Sheev cackled, he unleashed a furious storm of lightning, lighting the entire Shrine complex in brilliant blueish-purple light and all but vaporizing the mountaintop which had hidden the Sith holy site for so many centuries. Meditating in the Dark Side Nexus for two decades had made him exponentially more powerful. Were he slightly less proud, he would have considered the little setback the greatest thing to ever happen to him precisely because of this, although he was still embarrassed by the hamster bottle thing while he was imprisoned so no reason to thank the little brat, assuming she even survived Dooku's training. With the revelation of daylight to the Shrine for the first time in 5000 years, Palpatine's army lunged itself into the heart of the beast.

Anakin and Ahsoka rode in the back of Rex's speeder, rushing towards the Jedi Temple, which was half in flames with a white freighter flying around trying to shake off republic fighter and gunships. Troop transports landed all around them with men in white plasteel armor pouring from them, guns at the ready. Igniting their lightsabers, Ahsoka and Anakin stormed up the stairs with the men, cloaks drawn tightly about them to prevent recognition by the local Jedi as "those hated apostates" or "Diet Sith" or whatever they were considered now. Then the ground seemed to vanish before their eyes, dropping dozens of troopers to their deaths. An army of cultists charged from the underground chasm to wage war on the Republic, and the Jedi, all the while chanting:

Palpatine!

Gràinne and her Sith were slicing through the cultists as if they were nothing more than air, but the flood kept coming. Deflecting blaster fire, she ordered "Fall back! The cultists are coming to us! Get to a better position and hold them there!" She slowly backed away, covering the rear of her strike force, now only twenty, plus Vengeance and Carnage in the Falcon. She refused to give up now, not when they were so close, not when they had already lost so many. No.She. Would. Kill. PALPATINE! Grabbing nearly two dozen cultists with the Force, she snapped their necks and flung them at the mass infantry assault before frying the frontmost cultists with lightning. Poblithes remained at her side, the ever-loyal apprentice, his crossguard lightsaber complementing every move made by the Darksaber. Taking their opportunity, the Master and Apprentice brought down a weight-bearing column and leapt away, crushing hundreds of cultists and sealing off the entryway they were charging through. Together steaming towards the main battlefield, if Palpatine wasn't there they would have to come back to the catacombs and search for him. She refused to leave without either his knowledge or his power. He was the only man alive who knew the secrets of Plagueis. She had to save her daughter. Paging PT-77, she ordered "PT! Come back to the Temple as soon as you can! We'll need air support!"

Ahsoka's sabers deflected the incoming blaster fire and blocked disruptor rounds from the swarming cultists. Some of the battalions still under Jedi leadership carried riot shields to defend themselves and their general. Just like back in the Clone War, she and Anakin were the shields, and these weren't even her men anymore. If anything, they would arrest her if they knew who she was; thankfully, her hood managed to stay lifted to conceal her face so to them she was just another Jedi. Blasters rained fire every which way, and Jedi tried to hold their own against the waves upon waves of CAWL terrorists, some eventually succumbing to the sheer numbers. She was managing to push her way into the mass, unwittingly becoming separated from Anakin. The Togruta Jedi slashed her swirling blades through cultist after cultist, when she felt a body bump into her back Quickly noticing she was surrounded she whirled to slice through what was obviously a cultist, only for her saber to spark off from the body's Baskar armor. The owner of which slashed the Darksaber at Ahsoka only to be blocked. The pair stared at one another in stunned silence, sabers locked but both frozen and seemingly incapable of making a move. Finally Ahsoka managed to stammer out, "Gràinne?!"

"Ahsoka?" The armored Empress asked, equally stunned.